Bistro Elan is a French-Californian bistro in the California Avenue shopping district of Palo Alto. The focus on local, organic, and sustainable ingredients from the local farmers market. Read the rest of this entry »

The Oaxacan Kitchen is a higher end Mexican restaurant in Palo Alto’s California Street shopping area. The restaurant is run by the husband and wife team Ron Kent and Zaida, and opened in 2008. They focus on authentic Oaxacan food. They sell some of their products at local farmers markets. Read the rest of this entry »

Howie’s Artisan Pizza was opened by Howard Bulka in late 2009 into Town & Country Village shopping Center of Palo Alto. He had worked at various restaurants including Marche. Inspired by the New Haven school of East Coast pizza-making and the renaissance of artisanal products including organic, natural, and local ingredients. Read the rest of this entry »

Mike’s Cafe is an American Restaurant with three location on the San Francisco Peninsula, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and Portola Valley. We went to the Portola Valley location, which opened in 2007. This is a good place to hit after an afternoon of hiking or biking nearby. The Palo Alto location opened back in 1995 and is a neighborhood place that is pretty popular. Mike Wallau was born and raised in Palo Alto, California, just down the street from where he opened the first Mike’s Café. Read the rest of this entry »

Jin Sho Restaurant is a ‘Executive-Class’ Japanese restaurant run by 2 chefs formerly of Nobu in New York, Noriomi Kaneko and Ichiro Takahashi. They bought several dishes with them from their past experiences. It opened in late 2007 and is located in Palo Alto’s California street shopping district right off of El Camino Real. They serve everything from classic sushi rolls, sashimi, omakase, to more western entrees. Read the rest of this entry »

Another trendy fancy burger place… The Counter opened in 2006 and is a fancy one located in the California Avenue shopping district. They have locations in CA, CO, GA, NC, and TX with many more coming soon. We revisited in Fall 2009.

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Coconuts Caribbean Restaurant and Bar is an Island focused restaurant open since 2008. They focus on Jamaican classics like Jerk Chicken. Some cool Steel drum live music was playing on our visit. Its chef also runs the cult classic Back-A-yard restaurant in Menlo Park. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tamarine is a popular Vietnamese contemporary restaurant in downtown Palo Alto on busy University Avenue. They focus on small plates and serve food family style. Tamerine features light, but flavor-intensive culinary delicacies of Vietnam. We have been here and to their sister restaurant Bong Su several times. We find the food pretty accessible with many items for mainstream palates. Read the rest of this entry »

Palo Alto Creamery has been serving up classic burger joint food since 1988. They have 2 locations in Palo Alto. We visited the one in the Stanford shopping center.
They specialize in burgers and ice cream fare. They serve breakfast, salads, sandwiches, and dinner entrees after 4pm. They have a $195 burger and Dom Perignon
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Classic Chicago-style deep dish pizza is the reason to visit.  Pronounced “paw-CHEESE”, this place is run by a former cook and manager of Zachary’s Pizza in Oakland.  With that heritage, it was time to compare it again the reference. Read the rest of this entry »